Railway-ticket



(No Model.)

W. J. SGOTT.& W. B. WHEELER.

RAILWAY TICKET.

No. 421,979. Patented Feb. 25, 1890.

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MINNESOTA.

RAILWAY-TICKET.

SPECIFCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 421,979, dated February 25, 1890. Application filed March 22, 1889. Serial No. 304,316. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that we, WILLIAM JOHN SCOTT and WILLIAM B. WHEELER, both of Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Tickets, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to coupon passen gertickets used on railways and Steamship-lines, and its obj ect is to prevent fraudulent transfer and use of the return part of a roundtrip ticket; and it consists, generally, in the construction and combination hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

Return or round-trip tickets are usually sold at a largely-reduced price from the 0rdinary tariff rates, in consideration of the purchase of ticket for returning to the point of original departure, and a strong incentive is offered to a person who is intending to make a single trip only to purchase a return-ticket at the lower rate and then to transfer the return part of the ticket to some other person for use by him. To prevent this transfer of a part of the ticket, a contract is usually printed upon the face of the ticket to the effect that it is not transferable and will become void if attempted to be transferred, and the purchaser is required to sign his name thereto and to conform to certain other specified conditions. These precautions, however, prove wholly inadequate as a protection to railway companies from the difficulty of iden tifying persons and signatures and discovers ing an illegal holder of the ticket, and great loss is the result to such companies by reason of such illegal transfers, and a large and re up by the proper oflicer of the carrying company, and any number of which may be used.

3 is the return part of the ticket, for use only in making the trip back to the point of original departure. On this portion of the ticket is inscribed or printed such designating marks or numbers as may be desired to identify the ticket, date of sale, limit of time Within which it may be used, the name of the company issuing` it, and the stations between which it is to be used. Upon it is also printed or otherwise'inscribed a contract to be signed by the purchaser, by which he agrees that,in consideration of the special rates at which the ticket is sold, to surrender the return part to the conductor or deposit it at the ticket ofiice immediately on arrival of the train at destination, and comply with other prescribed conditions; also, an agreement that unless all the conditions thereon expressed are fulfilled the ticket shall be null and void.

5 is the return-ticket certificate, preferably detachably secured on one side of the returnticket 3 and on the other side to the coupon 2.- Upon this is printed or otherwise inscribed the same number or other identifying-marks as are upon the portion 3, and the name or number of the station to which the ticket was issued, and certain directions and conditions substantially as follows, illustrative examples of number, station, name, date, and signature of purchaser being used: Good for one return-ticket No. 1437 if presented. at Minneapolis depot ticket-office not more than one hour before train departs on or before July lst, 1889. N. B.-This must not be written on or defaced before presentation. (Signature of purchaser) John Smith. There being on said certificate no marks other than those to identify the ticket to which it belongs, and nothing to indicate the point to which said ticket is to be used.

The mode of using our improved ticket is as follows: The part 3 is subscribed by the purchaser and properly dated or 'otherwise marked or stamped. The outgoing coupon 2 is detached bythe railway-conductor on pre sentation and the return-ticket 3 is surrendered to the conductor or the statiomagent at the destination, the certificate 5 being retained by the purchaser. This is presented IOO by him at the ticket-office of original destination, as `marked thereon, and signed by him at the time of such presentation, and surrendered by him in exchange for the return-ticket from which it was detached, Which is identified by means of` the correspondence of numbers, names, dates, dac. Fraudulent transfers are l thus prevented, because the certificate 5 can,y

have no salabie value, because it does not show to what point its corresponding ticket is issued, and also because the signature of the person presenting it can be compared with that on the return-ticket and any difference detected.

We claim as our invention- A round-trip railway passenger-ticket comprising, in combination, one or more coupons for the outgoing trip or parts thereof, a return-ticket having an arbitrary identifyingmark upon its surface, and a certificate detachabiy secured to said coupons and to said return-ticketand having the same arbitrary identifying-mark as the said return-ticket, but having no other identifying or distinguishing mark to show to What point the ticket may be used, al1 combined and adapted for use substantially as described.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands this 9th day of March, 1889.

- VILLIAM JOHN SCOTT. vVILLIAM B. WHEELER. InV presence of- A. M. GAsKILL, T. D. MERWIN. 

